title: Verbal fluency in children with autism spectrum disorders: clustering and switching strategies.
abstract: This study highlights differences in cognitive strategies in children and adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorders (n = 52) on a verbal fluency task (naming as many words as possible (e.g. animals) within 60 s). The ability to form clusters of words (e.g. farm animals like "cow-horse-goat") or to switch between unrelated words (e.g. "snake" and "cat") was analyzed using a coding method that more stringently differentiates between these strategies. Results indicated that children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders switched less frequently, but produced slightly larger clusters than the comparison group, resulting in equal numbers of total words produced. The currently used measures of cognitive flexibility suggest atypical, but possibly equally efficient, fluency styles used by individuals with autism spectrum disorders.
authors.affiliation: University of Sydney, Australia VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Autism Research Amsterdam, The Netherlands S.Begeer@vu.nl.
authors.forename: Sander
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Begeer
authors.affiliation: VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Autism Research Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marlies
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wierda
authors.affiliation: VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Autism Research Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anke M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Scheeren
authors.affiliation: Dr Leo Kannerhuis Autism Center, The Netherlands Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan-Pieter
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Teunisse
authors.affiliation: VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hans M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Koot
authors.affiliation: Dr Leo Kannerhuis Autism Center, The Netherlands University of Amsterdam; The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hilde M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Geurts
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012660:Semantics; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: autism spectrum disorders; clustering; cognitive flexibility; fluency; switching